LETTER 44: HIDDEN POLYTHEISM

In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate!

Brother Shamsuddin, the Messenger of God has said: Among my people polytheism is more hidden than the movement of an ant on a black stone in the dark of night! Know that this polytheism, even though it does not detract from the principle of faith, nevertheless damages its reality and benefits. Faith can be compared to gold, which can either be pure or impure. In the latter case, it is still gold, but the value of gold that contains impurities is not the same as that of pure gold. Real faith is belief in divine Unity and is the opposite of polytheism. Do you not see that until the root of polytheism has been removed, the unity of faith cannot be acquired? When polytheism has been uprooted, however, the shoot of belief in divine Unity appears. Faith and its unity become real for the person who really strives for it. He purifies himself from every defiling impurity that arises from hidden polytheism. The meaning of hidden polytheism is to see either loss or profit coming from anything besides God, or to be afraid or hopeful on account of anything other than God. The subtle ties of hypocrisy, the secrets of hidden affection, delight in marvels, pleasure derived from the praise of people, and dismay caused by them reproaches all of these originate from hidden polytheism. The command of the Law is to worship God alone, and not place even a particle beside Him! (Cf. Q4:36.)

You agree it has been well said, In the Essence Unity expels all attributions!

Why should we join anything to Your Unity?

You are both the Sought and the Seeker: what more can we say?

The wise have said that polytheism can be either visible or hid- den. Hidden polytheism exists in the community of the Prophet, as we have seen in the above-mentioned tradition, which is said to have several interpretations. One of them is that the crawling of an ant is bereft of beauty; no one recognizes its footsteps; nor does anyone hear the sound of its pitter-patter. In the very same way, hidden polytheism can be creeping along in a servant, and he does not have even the faintest idea that it is there!

Again, the movement was described as being on a stone, not on dust, because the crawling movement on the dust leaves behind a trail, from which one can infer that an ant has passed that way. But its movement on the stone leaves no trace; there is no hint that anything has passed over it. This is a proof that hidden polytheism could gain ground in a servant while he is unaware even of its existence!

The tradition goes on to say that all this transpired in a dark, black night. Black upon black, in utter blackness, simply cannot be seen! In the same way, when hidden polytheism makes continuous progress and darkness close in on anyone, then something trifling ends up having a great effect. In the entire ambit of faith one should see only God, there should be none but God! Whoever sees anything else besides Him in either world is guilty of polytheism. One beloved of God has hinted at this mystery.

Since you know and speak only of One, why do you ask about two, three, and four? The letters & and are on the same line as a Yet they combine to form but [idol], while a forms Allah!

The proof of this tradition is Haris who, when he made a claim to the reality of faith, argued for the correctness of his claim by de clearing that he had ceased to derive profit or loss as from any source other than God. He said: As far as we are concerned, all gold, silver, and jewels are equivalent to pieces of broken earthenware. The foundation of all commercial profits is gold and silver, since all profits in the world stem from them, and yet for Haris, their status had become equal to that of stone and dust. One's sensual soul gains strength in eating and sleeping. Haris removed both from his life and said: I keep a vigil by night and fast by day. The gain from that was especially beneficial to him because he cut himself off from what is profitable in the present world. This world became, for him, the hid den world, for he had become firmly established in proofs of the reality of his own faith. The Prophet said to him: Stand firm in what you have found!

As long as people remain in the world of goods, they are enveloped in darkness, and dream. Abandoning arrangements is the commencement of Unity: By ceasing to make plans, one attains genuine solitude!

The Messenger also said: There is no rest for the believer, except in the vision of God. Deprived of this, he will die! God becomes the contentment of the believer the moment his faith acquires reality. In verifying his faith, he becomes separated from all worldly connections. If, while still in the world, his behavior becomes like that, then the world assumes for him the quality of Judgment Day as happened to Haris!

Everyone who seeks the realm of solitude, and he who desires the abode of Unity, should not find repose within himself nor should he acquire embellishment without! If revelation, for you, becomes confined to the body,

Then make of such revelation a shoe and beat yourself on the head!

A cringing dog goes in search of bones, While the tiger cub seeks living prey!

This cannot happen except by abandoning polytheism, that is, by separating oneself from all worldly attachment. Whoever is afraid of anything except God or places his expectations anywhere but in Him-even though there is no question at all of the fundamentals of the faith such a person really espouses polytheism. Similarly, for other qualities, make a suitable analogy. Realize from all this that whoever fixes attention upon himself while he is engaged in any form of divine worship or thinks there is separation as a result of sin, is seeing union and separation from what is not God. This is equivale lent to polytheism! In sum, the servant has not become so firmly grounded in the reality of his faith nor have his qualities become such that one could say, All this is from God, just as it is with God, for God, and directed toward God! In other words, the origin of all things is God, all things exist in Him; all possessions and authority are His, while all things will return to Him. When his qualities be- come like this, it means that a person's faith has become a firmly established reality for him. The Messenger has also said: Those who are slaves to the world, to money, to their own bellies, to lust and to fine raiment, have all been destroyed! And again, the Messenger said: The soul should be for the sake of prayer, or be destroyed, since it will have become the slave of these things. If it is for prayer, then its prayer is accepted. If this is a tradition, it is correct. All of us unfortunate ones perished long ago, but we had no idea of this fact on account of our own blindness and ignorance. Rather, we esteemed our- selves as genuine Muslims!

The idea of the Way before my eyes comes from You: A whole lifetime transpires in trying to grasp that idea! When the sun's form is glimpsed, our minds are blanked. What remains in our eves is false, in our heads, mere thought!

Another poet spoke aright when he said:

Whatever we have written is fit only to be wiped away; Whatever we have raised on high is fit only to be thrown down Everything we have thought has proved to be useless; What a pity we have passed our lives in such foolishness!

If he is called the slave of such things, then it must be true that his devotion to the Lord has evaporated. Only thus could he become enslaved by things, for as long as a slave of Zaid is not liberated by Zaid, he cannot become the slave of Umru! As long as all his qualities of service are devoted to the Lord, he cannot become the slave of any one or anything but the Lord! There is an example of this in the Law. Anyone who has one foot inside an inn, and the other outside, cannot be said to have entered the building, nor to be outside it. There is no coming out for him, neither is there any going in. If anyone speaks of entering or leaving, then the person would be a liar in both instances, as he would be also if he turned himself into the slave of someone other than God by any wishing, fearing, fleeing, or seeking. If he completely accepts this explanation, then at one stroke he would place himself beyond the pale of faith. If he shows hesitation between two qualities, then know that whoever is between two inns can be driven out of both! This polytheism about which you have heard, and this service of another about which we spoke, come to us entirely from seeing something other than God. This happens if, when we see Him, we see another as well. Every mirror that we worship is tantamount to worshiping another. The same is the case if we are afraid of Him while remaining afraid of someone else. Or if we place our trust in Him, and yet continue to rely on others. One beloved of God has said:

Since there is only one God in both worlds, why be occupied with four pillars?

Pronounce One, desire One, and seek only One! See One and Speak of One and One alone!

O brother, when the Apostle gave the invitation to men, he transmitted the deposit of faith, girded up his loins for service, and said: O God, I have carried Your command to the people! The di vine oracle came: Why did you pay attention to your role of conveying the message? Keep your gaze fixed on Our commission! The secret of this has been put thus:

As long as even a single hair stays neatly in place, then that single hair acts as a shackle on your feet. If but one hair on your body remains polluted, you cannot be considered purified for prayer! One day a poor devotee was saying his prayers. Upon completing them, he exclaimed: Praise and honor be to God for having he stowed His grace upon me, And I pray for the forgiveness of my short comings! His guide chided him, saying I thought you believed in only one God, now you are a polytheist! O sheikh, he replied, why do you say that? As long as you did not pay attention to your prayer, answered the sheikh, you did not perceive any fault. Now your prayer has become your own attribute. I thought you saw only God, but you have proven that you also see yourself! Anyone whishes himself does not see God! This teaching is for high-minded people! All that you and I can do is talk about such worship! How could we unfortunate one's ever obtained such wealth? Accept your state and say:

O Lord of the worlds, what can I say?

I am drowning in blood, yet sail my boat on dry land'

Take my hand and listen to my cry! How long shall I have to beat my head as though a fly were on it

O King, look upon me, poor wretch that I am! If You see any fault in me, let your gaze wipe it away!

My grief has grown too great: Send relief! Emit a ray of light into the encircling gloom!

O God, you are aware of all my lamentation, you are present in the grief of my nights.

What should I become, that I might mean something to You If only You take account of me, I will become something for

You!

I am both afflicted by You and astonished at Your Yet whether I am good or bad, I am always yours!

Peace!

In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate!

Brother Shamsuddin, the Messenger of God has said: Among my people polytheism is more hidden than the movement of an ant on a black stone in the dark of night! Know that this polytheism, even though it does not detract from the principle of faith, nevertheless damages its reality and benefits. Faith can be compared to gold, which can either be pure or impure. In the latter case, it is still gold, but the value of gold that contains impurities is not the same as that of pure gold. Real faith is belief in divine Unity and is the opposite of polytheism. Do you not see that until the root of polytheism has been removed, the unity of faith cannot be acquired? When polytheism has been uprooted, however, the shoot of belief in divine Unity appears. Faith and its unity become real for the person who really strives for it. He purifies himself from every defiling impurity that arises from hidden polytheism. The meaning of hidden polytheism is to see either loss or profit coming from anything besides God, or to be afraid or hopeful on account of anything other than God. The subtle ties of hypocrisy, the secrets of hidden affection, delight in marvels, pleasure derived from the praise of people, and dismay caused by them reproaches all of these originate from hidden polytheism. The command of the Law is to worship God alone, and not place even a particle beside Him! (Cf. Q4:36.)

You agree it has been well said, In the Essence Unity expels all attributions!

Why should we join anything to Your Unity?

You are both the Sought and the Seeker: what more can we say?

The wise have said that polytheism can be either visible or hid- den. Hidden polytheism exists in the community of the Prophet, as we have seen in the above-mentioned tradition, which is said to have several interpretations. One of them is that the crawling of an ant is bereft of beauty; no one recognizes its footsteps; nor does anyone hear the sound of its pitter-patter. In the very same way, hidden polytheism can be creeping along in a servant, and he does not have even the faintest idea that it is there!

Again, the movement was described as being on a stone, not on dust, because the crawling movement on the dust leaves behind a trail, from which one can infer that an ant has passed that way. But its movement on the stone leaves no trace; there is no hint that anything has passed over it. This is a proof that hidden polytheism could gain ground in a servant while he is unaware even of its existence!

The tradition goes on to say that all this transpired in a dark, black night. Black upon black, in utter blackness, simply cannot be seen! In the same way, when hidden polytheism makes continuous progress and darkness close in on anyone, then something trifling ends up having a great effect. In the entire ambit of faith one should see only God, there should be none but God! Whoever sees anything else besides Him in either world is guilty of polytheism. One beloved of God has hinted at this mystery.

Since you know and speak only of One, why do you ask about two, three, and four? The letters & and are on the same line as a Yet they combine to form but [idol], while a forms Allah!

The proof of this tradition is Haris who, when he made a claim to the reality of faith, argued for the correctness of his claim by de clearing that he had ceased to derive profit or loss as from any source other than God. He said: As far as we are concerned, all gold, silver, and jewels are equivalent to pieces of broken earthenware. The foundation of all commercial profits is gold and silver, since all profits in the world stem from them, and yet for Haris, their status had become equal to that of stone and dust. One's sensual soul gains strength in eating and sleeping. Haris removed both from his life and said: I keep a vigil by night and fast by day. The gain from that was especially beneficial to him because he cut himself off from what is profitable in the present world. This world became, for him, the hid den world, for he had become firmly established in proofs of the reality of his own faith. The Prophet said to him: Stand firm in what you have found!

As long as people remain in the world of goods, they are enveloped in darkness, and dream. Abandoning arrangements is the commencement of Unity: By ceasing to make plans, one attains genuine solitude!

The Messenger also said: There is no rest for the believer, except in the vision of God. Deprived of this, he will die! God becomes the contentment of the believer the moment his faith acquires reality. In verifying his faith, he becomes separated from all worldly connections. If, while still in the world, his behavior becomes like that, then the world assumes for him the quality of Judgment Day as happened to Haris!

Everyone who seeks the realm of solitude, and he who desires the abode of Unity, should not find repose within himself nor should he acquire embellishment without! If revelation, for you, becomes confined to the body,

Then make of such revelation a shoe and beat yourself on the head!

A cringing dog goes in search of bones, While the tiger cub seeks living prey!

This cannot happen except by abandoning polytheism, that is, by separating oneself from all worldly attachment. Whoever is afraid of anything except God or places his expectations anywhere but in Him-even though there is no question at all of the fundamentals of the faith such a person really espouses polytheism. Similarly, for other qualities, make a suitable analogy. Realize from all this that whoever fixes attention upon himself while he is engaged in any form of divine worship or thinks there is separation as a result of sin, is seeing union and separation from what is not God. This is equivale lent to polytheism! In sum, the servant has not become so firmly grounded in the reality of his faith nor have his qualities become such that one could say, All this is from God, just as it is with God, for God, and directed toward God! In other words, the origin of all things is God, all things exist in Him; all possessions and authority are His, while all things will return to Him. When his qualities be- come like this, it means that a person's faith has become a firmly established reality for him. The Messenger has also said: Those who are slaves to the world, to money, to their own bellies, to lust and to fine raiment, have all been destroyed! And again, the Messenger said: The soul should be for the sake of prayer, or be destroyed, since it will have become the slave of these things. If it is for prayer, then its prayer is accepted. If this is a tradition, it is correct. All of us unfortunate ones perished long ago, but we had no idea of this fact on account of our own blindness and ignorance. Rather, we esteemed our- selves as genuine Muslims!

The idea of the Way before my eyes comes from You: A whole lifetime transpires in trying to grasp that idea! When the sun's form is glimpsed, our minds are blanked. What remains in our eves is false, in our heads, mere thought!

Another poet spoke aright when he said:

Whatever we have written is fit only to be wiped away; Whatever we have raised on high is fit only to be thrown down Everything we have thought has proved to be useless; What a pity we have passed our lives in such foolishness!

If he is called the slave of such things, then it must be true that his devotion to the Lord has evaporated. Only thus could he become enslaved by things, for as long as a slave of Zaid is not liberated by Zaid, he cannot become the slave of Umru! As long as all his qualities of service are devoted to the Lord, he cannot become the slave of any one or anything but the Lord! There is an example of this in the Law. Anyone who has one foot inside an inn, and the other outside, cannot be said to have entered the building, nor to be outside it. There is no coming out for him, neither is there any going in. If anyone speaks of entering or leaving, then the person would be a liar in both instances, as he would be also if he turned himself into the slave of someone other than God by any wishing, fearing, fleeing, or seeking. If he completely accepts this explanation, then at one stroke he would place himself beyond the pale of faith. If he shows hesitation between two qualities, then know that whoever is between two inns can be driven out of both! This polytheism about which you have heard, and this service of another about which we spoke, come to us entirely from seeing something other than God. This happens if, when we see Him, we see another as well. Every mirror that we worship is tantamount to worshiping another. The same is the case if we are afraid of Him while remaining afraid of someone else. Or if we place our trust in Him, and yet continue to rely on others. One beloved of God has said:

Since there is only one God in both worlds, why be occupied with four pillars?

Pronounce One, desire One, and seek only One! See One and Speak of One and One alone!

O brother, when the Apostle gave the invitation to men, he transmitted the deposit of faith, girded up his loins for service, and said: O God, I have carried Your command to the people! The di vine oracle came: Why did you pay attention to your role of conveying the message? Keep your gaze fixed on Our commission! The secret of this has been put thus:

As long as even a single hair stays neatly in place, then that single hair acts as a shackle on your feet. If but one hair on your body remains polluted, you cannot be considered purified for prayer! One day a poor devotee was saying his prayers. Upon completing them, he exclaimed: Praise and honor be to God for having he stowed His grace upon me, And I pray for the forgiveness of my short comings! His guide chided him, saying I thought you believed in only one God, now you are a polytheist! O sheikh, he replied, why do you say that? As long as you did not pay attention to your prayer, answered the sheikh, you did not perceive any fault. Now your prayer has become your own attribute. I thought you saw only God, but you have proven that you also see yourself! Anyone whishes himself does not see God! This teaching is for high-minded people! All that you and I can do is talk about such worship! How could we unfortunate one's ever obtained such wealth? Accept your state and say:

O Lord of the worlds, what can I say?

I am drowning in blood, yet sail my boat on dry land'

Take my hand and listen to my cry! How long shall I have to beat my head as though a fly were on it

O King, look upon me, poor wretch that I am! If You see any fault in me, let your gaze wipe it away!

My grief has grown too great: Send relief! Emit a ray of light into the encircling gloom!

O God, you are aware of all my lamentation, you are present in the grief of my nights.

What should I become, that I might mean something to You If only You take account of me, I will become something for

You!

I am both afflicted by You and astonished at Your Yet whether I am good or bad, I am always yours!

Peace!